AIPAC SPYING INDICTMENT UNSEALED

AIPAC indictment unsealed
U.S federal charges against two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee detail their activities dating to 1999. An indictment unsealed in Virginia on Thursday against Steve Rosen, AIPAC’s former policy director, and Keith Weissman, its former Iran analyst, charge the two with “conspiracy to communicate national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it.” The indictment alleges that the conspiracy started in 1999, and charges the two with revealing information related to terrorist activities in Central Asia, a 1996 attack on a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia and information related to Iran. Previously, Rosen and Weissman were linked only with another case against Larry Franklin, a former Pentagon Iran analyst, that started in 2003.

Abbe Lowell, Rosen’s lawyer, called the charges “entirely unjustified.” “We expect that the trial will show this prosecution represents a misguided attempt to criminalize the public’s right to participate in the political process,” Lowell said in a statement to JTA. “For 23 years, Dr. Steve Rosen has been a passionate advocate for America’s national interests in the Middle East. He regrets that the government has moved ahead with indictment, but looks forward to being vindicated at trial.”